Communication with guests can be a circus, as my friend Andy McNulty wrote about on the Touch Stay blog.

His article is an excellent illustration of what it feels like to communicate, why it is necessary to communicate with so many different methods, and how to gasp get your guests to read information — with a trick up your sleeve.

communication circus

UPDATED October 2022

Each owner/manager/host/innkeeper has their own way of doing their communication flow, and we at Branson Family Retreats and Missouri Haus Vacation Rentals are always tweaking our processes and looking for ways to improve our communication.

We do these tweaks based on who our target guest is, how our guests respond to our communications, and what we see works for others (if it is something that fits the first two criteria, that is!). Here is our current flow after booking one of our Branson Family Retreats vacation homes:

Immediately on booking:

  • Email: Booking confirmation
  • Email: Sign guest agreement (listing sites)
  • Airbnb: Check your email
  • Memo: Digital guidebook link

Day after booking:

  • Email: Detailing importance of travel insurance

2 days after booking:

  • Email: Show and attraction tickets
  • Mail: Explore card

97 days:

  • Email: Balance payment will be next week

90 days:

  • Email: Balance paid receipt

35 days:

  • Email: Travel insurance reminder

30 days:

  • Email: Digital guidebook link

14 days:

  • Email: Directions and digital guidebook
  • Memo: Directions in email

7 days:

  • Email: Traffic and hot tub info

3 days:

  • Email: Top 3 important things — Parking, Door code, Digital guidebook link
  • Memo: Reminder to save guidebook to phone

1 day:

  • Memo: Share guidebook with family/group

Day of arrival:

  • Memo: Reminder of directions, check-in info, guidebook link
  • Email: Excited about arrival and confirming guest count
  • Phone: Call / text to check they arrived safely

Day before departure:

  • Memo: Reminder of check-out info and time

Day of departure:

  • Email: Thank you and ask for review
  • Memo: 8:30am with 10am check-out time reminder

5 days after departure:

  • Email: Please leave a Google Business review

7-21 days after departure:

  • Mail: Thank you card

Notes:

Memo is the SMS text service on the Touch Stay platform.

Everything is automated except for sending the cards — the task work is downloading spreadsheet of names/addresses from PMS, uploading to the card company, then clicking Send. We use Mailbox Power for sending the cards. Click here for our referral link or enter TYANN in the code box to gain access to their platform.